Sunshine and Smiles

 I just love this cute little Lily of the Valley girl, I reckon she really wanted a pony and nothing else is good enough LOL.

I coloured her with Copics to match the DP the orange papers are floral dreams by Foundations the green is card I have had in my stash for ever I think from the paperbox.
The swirls are Marianne designs die cuts and the Border is a Spellbinders Die.
I had already laid out my card when I found the perfect sentiment as I didnt have room for it on the outside I put on the inside and carried the theme through.

 Here's a close up of the sentiment LOL. I would have liked a Dont worry be happy but thought this was quite tongue in cheek.

The tag is spellbinders too and the sentiment is LOTV.

Challenges
Cute Card Thursday Sketch an old one or someone elses I used Papertake Weekly
Papertake weekly Sketch
ABC T is for Trouble

Black and a Splash of Red MIC DT

Wow first of all I have to say a huge thank you to all who took part in our Blog Hop last I hope that you all enjoyed it and were inspired to grab yourself some of the fabulous images to have a play with. I love the circus theme so much that I just couldnt resist making another card using the Circus Tent Digi from Make it Crafty for this weeks challenge Make it Colourful which is colouring with black and a splash of red.for this challenge I did wimp out a bit and used my Derwent Colouring Pencils and gamsol.

the backing card is coredinations which I have run through my cuttlebug with a Tim Holtz mask and then lightly sanded over. I kept it real simple as I want this card for my sons birthday on Monday, Yep he is so special he even has a bank holiday on his birthday or thats what he keeps telling me lol, so I just added some buttons and left it at that. Even though his name is Alan I called the card Jerry;s Circus cos I found the perfect stamp within my stash for a circus

Weight Lifting 

 Isn't he just the cutest? I have put him on the inside so that he pops up when you open the card.

 Here's a bit of a close up of Jerry

 and the tent.

Pencils used
Dove Grey, Persian Grey, Black, Scarlet.

Oh dah totally dont know where my head is you'll be wanting to know who our sponsor is this week.

Well you lucky folks you could be the winner of a prize from the fabulous Tiddly Inks

Challenges
Simon Says Anything Goes

Same stamp, but oh so different

Here I used the same stamp stamped with versamark and tripled embossed, used a Tim Holtz mask in my Calibur for the backing sheet the white border and tag are from my new sets of sissix dies. The black Ribbon is recycled it came from the gift bag that my winter coat came in.
Gonna say it myself though I really like how this turned out, and I can hardy believe it myself but I have now made four cards and havent touched a copic, I will probably be a shaking wreck tomorrow from withdrawal symptoms LOL. I used the sketch frpm Inspirational Card Sketches but had to turn it around abit to suit the image.
Challenge
Moving along with the times recycled
Simon Says Stamps Challenge embossing
Creative Card Crew recycle
ICSketches Sketch

Vintage and Mason

Wow has this bank holiday weekend gone fast or what? I spent the first couple of days working in the garden and giving my neighbours a good laugh. I cant see what they found so amusing about me hovering up the garden :-0

Okay maybe it is a bit strange, but I have a garden full of Acers and leaves tend to get everywhere, but not only that last year we were inundated with SPIDERS and I for one will admit to being terrified of them, to the point that last year I wouldnt even go out in the garden :-( so went round with the industrial hover NOT my upright lol and hovered up all the webs and egg sacks, I think I probably committed mass murder lol.

Luckily for me though the neighbours went out before I started washing the trees with soapy water LOL. I dont think I would have lived that down after the remarks about the hovering. 

(Just in case your wondereing No I havent totally lost it the trees had got bugs due to lack of water over the winter and to get rid of them you have to wash them of with soapy water).

Anyways the garden looks pretty good now just got to get some new fushias for the hanging baskets and Im set for the summer.

So to celebrate I have spent the rest of my time crafting, this stamp was one of the many must haves from  Ally Pally. Feel a bit bad though cos I lost the bag it came in so I have no idea who it is from, which is a shame cos I love it and I know they had some other really great scenes.

 I think the stamp has a vintagy feel about it so I stamped the image with Walnut Stain Distress Inks, frayed the edges of the papers with a distressing tool and used Tea Dye and Old Paper Distress inks.

The postcard is a Lily of the Valley stamp which I again distressed with old paper and tea dye inks. The flowers are from Wild Orchid and I misted them with a Tea Dye reinker and pearl glimmer mist. Lace is from a little haberdashery shop in Walthamstow.


before I go I just wanted to share with you my youngest grandson Mason getting to know his story telling Winnie the Pooh.  Bless him Winnie is still loads bigger than him LOL.

Challenges
Truly Scrumptious Vintage
Cute Card Thursday No Text

Wedding Days

A friend asked me to make 2 wedding Cards which seems very fitting for all the wedding fever in good old Blighty at the moment but No they are not for Will and Kate lol.

I used my Craft Robo to cut out the Petal Cards (which reminds me do any of you guys have the new ecraft personal cutter and know wether you can plot and cut your own images?)

The stamp I have had for ages not sure where from, it was on a wooden block but I took it off due to lack of space (or maybe thats too much stuff lol). Stamped with Clear Stamp Pad and embossed with Ultra fine Silver embossing powder. Mounted on mat from Spellbinders die

The flowers are from Wild Orchid crafts, leaves and pearls I have had for ever too.

Those gorgeous hearts were from a cake shop that had a closing sale, so I stocked up. The inside of the other card is similar just with a different type of paper.

challenges

Totally Papercrafts Weddings
Stampin for the Weekend Weddings
Fab n Funky Wedding
A Spoonful of Sugar Lets celebrate
Die Cut dreams Wedding
Simon Says Stamp Embossing

Mo and Zo's Carnival Blog Hop

Let the sideshow begin,

Hurry hurry,

Step right on in,

Hurry hurry

Cant afford to pass it by,

Guaranteed to make time fly.

Let the sideshow begin

Hurry hurry

Step right on in

Hurry hurry

Cant afford to pass this by

Great new stamps for you to buy.

With a bit of a variation on the words the Stylistics song Sideshow fits in quite well with the theme of our hop today LOL.

Yep it's the big one Mo and Zo's Carnival release hop, Mo's Dream Team and Zoe's Colour Addicts have got together for the show of the year and wow stunning creations or what!

We have got some AMAZING prizes from these fantastic sponsors Stamping Bella, Quixotic Paperie, Mo's Digital Pencil and of course our very own Make It Crafty

If you came to me from the talented Leah then your on the right track and you will have seen how cute the Christmas Elf is balancing on his unicycle, just goes to show Elves aren't just for christmas LOL.
And now to my creation, this is what I have to show you.

For my card I have combined Ticket Booth from Make It Crafty with Mo's The Fat Lady
Make it Crafty's Circus Tent with The Unicycle and Fair Carousel with Mo's Jojo.

I coloured the images with Copics and used some of my new goodies from Ally Pally for the embellishments.
The tickets are a Tim Holtz Die for the cuttlebug and the text on them are from Lily of the Valley. The rosettes are another sissix die that I just had to have.

The papers are by Fancy Pants

I have added lots of Sakura glitter pen to the images but its not showing up on the photos too well  :-(

Oh almost forgot my lovely balloons, dont forget to take a note of all the balloon letters on your way cause you'll need them to make the phrase.

We have some more news for you to you can get this gorgeous new image from Mo for $1 and all proceeds will be going to the Make a Wish Foundations in the UK and US.

Oh yeah and dont forget to leave me some lurve ,cause you never know I may just have a little something hidden away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you need to hop on over to another very talented lady Magali to see what fabulous creation she has made.

Challenges

Copic Creations Favourite Paper - I have used Make it Crafty blending paper which is soo the best.

Fussy and FancyCard for a Child
Catered Crop Recipe - Copics, Digi's, diecuts
Incy Wincy Bright and Bold (I think I got that covered lol)

Mo and Zo's Blog Hop

Roll Up Roll Up Get Your Tickets Here for the Best Show in the Land

and its coming to a town near you

on the

 21st April

Yoohooo were gonna be celebrating the Carnival coming to Town, with the best blog hop ever, yep the Colour Addicts at Make It Colourful have teamed up with Mo's Dream Team for a blog hop extrordinaire!

Were gonna be showcasing some fab new images from Zoe at
Make It Crafty and Mo at Mo's Digital Pencil which really compliment each other. So get ready to be amazed and of course win PRIZES along the way.

Colouring Skies - Make It Colourful DT

Wow its the weekend and I.m soo hoping the weather stays as nice as its been all week, but have you noticed that whilst your at work the weather is gorgeous and come the weekend it turns rubbish!!!!!! Oh well fingers crossed, but hopefully if blogger posts this properly I will be in the mad stampede at the Ally Pally stamp show.

Today we have a new challenge for you at Make it Colourful and we want to see Coloured Skies, this can be in any way you fancy, I have used Broken China distress Inks and torn paper for a soft look, but you can get out your copics (my oh so talented teamie Annika fondly known as Niks has done a fabulous tutorial for copic skies) or you may like pencils or water colours, the choice is yours and we cant wait to see what you come up with.

For my card I have used the Kissing Booth from the carnival collection at Make it Crafty. I teamed it with the Magnolia stamp Brotherly Love.

This was the card that I was going to do for last weeks cxhallenge till I printed over my coloured image lol.

Hopefully you can see the sky a little better in this pic, I love the effect that you get from this technique but it doesnt show up too well cos the card is pearlescent and the light keeps bouncing back, but I think you can just about get the idea.
The sentiment is from one of the Patchwork Polly sets.

Anything but Square

The challenge at Whiff Of Joy this week is Anything But Square, so I thought I would have a go at a twisted Double Easel Card,

The images are Dare to Dream and Miss Ladybugs (although I have cut the ladybirds of lol.

The papers are from Bearly Mine Designs and those gorgeous swirls are from Make it Crafty, Zoe has an amazing range of lasercuts already and I just happen to know she is working on some new ones now.

Challenges

Whiff of Joy Anything but Square

I'm Happy

I am sooo pleased with this card, being on the Make It Colourful DT has really made me think about my colouring so have been studying what my fabulous boss lady Zoe and the rest of the DT do with their copics and today for the first time I coloured this sweet little Tilda using some of the hints and tips I have learnt along the way.

I am entering her into the following challenges

Just Magnolia Anything Goes/Button
Stamptacular Sunday Buttons/Bling/Bloom
Secret Crafter Butterflies
CreataliciousTwo tone
Copic Creations Fav Technique (learning to pleat and loving it)
Paper sundaes spring Flowers

Bright Colours

Zoe challenge this week is to colour in bright colours and of course all the girls rose to this challenge so when checking out the challenge site don't forget your sunglasses!

I had a bit of a disaster when preparing my card and just to share with you what a plum I am this is what i did
Yep spent ages colouring Edwin and Tilda then wanted to print the Kissing Booth onto the same paper (which by the way is sooooooo the best paper I have ever tried for markers its from Zoe's shop and you can get it Here and yes she does ship to the UK) and the printed right over the top LOL.

No time to start again so instead am sharing this card with you this young chappie is Racing Rik and is from the Kiddo's Collection

Coloured with Copics using the Feather Blend Technique on his hair which I love. The brick wall is a Sizzix Tim Holtz folder which I coloured with Vintage Photo and Aged Mahogany distress inks. As it is for a boy I kept the card really simple (and I only had half hour to put this together) and just added a bit of hessian, twine and brads.

A bit of a close up for you, just shows I am quite happy with the colouring of this one lol.

Heres the inside where I continued with the brads and hessian theme and of course Rik's car.

Side view

Well I hope this  inspires you to join in with our challenge this week. Dont forget to check out what my teamies have done at the  Make It Colourful Challenge

oooh almost forgot to say that we are sponsored this week by  Whimsy Stamps

Challenges

Copic Creations Favourite Techniques

Digis With Attitude! Challenge Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew For a Child

Totally Papercrafts One for the Boys

aifactoryBright as Day

Aud SentimentsCard for a Child

Baby Cards

Benn having a little play this weekend with more of Nana Vic's cute Baby images. This little giraffe is probably my favourite though. I thought this card was kinda neutral but then decided more for a boy so had to make a girlie one!

The rest of the images have a bit of a vintage feel so thought I might try a vintage one but not at all happy how this turned out backt to the drawing board me thinks.

You can get all these images at Nana Vics Digitals.

Hope you have a great afternoon, evening, sleep.

Beccy

Challenges

Charisma Cards Use Die Cuts

Make It Colourful DT - Blending Green and Yellow

Yay it's the weekend and that means it's time for a new challenge at Make It Colourful,  this week we want to see you blending

Yellow and Green.

This is a great combination for foliage!

Just got to mention here that last week we had a challenge just for the kiddies and OMG the entries were incredible some of the talent is amazing. ~So huge thanks to all who took part and a big congratulations to you all on the amazing work you produced. 

Just to make this challenge a bit more interesting we have another new sponser for you this week, the incredibly talented Chrissy Armstrong

I was lucky enough to be given one of Chrissy's gorgeous images to play with and I chose Gracie's Roses which you can find Here hasn't she got just the cutest face. I made a background for her using digi stamps from our very own Zoe at Make It Crafty where you can get loads of different scene digis as well as some real cute characters, oh and she is doing rubba now too!

I used Daffodil Dell, Peaches of Plenty and Petals and Palings to make my scene.

I made Gracie in three layers to give her plenty of dimension and fixed her on with silicone. The copics I used for her dress are YG00, YG000, YG05 AND YG06.

Flowers are Wild Orchid and DP is a sheet from one of the new paper stacks that I swore I was not going to buy until I had used all the paper I had in my craft cupboard and that is an awful lot, but I just couldnt resist the Prima papers at the Craft Barn this one is from the Botanical Collection. swirls were cut on my cuttlebug I think a Marianne D die.

Ok enough waffle from me, hope you get chance to join us this week.

Hugs Beccy

Challenges
Creative Card Crew Green
Fab n Funky All things Green
Crafty Purple Frog green
The Pixie cottageGreen

Nana Vic DT - Easter

This gorgeous Easter image is an image by Nana Vic but for a limited time if you are a member of the Crafters Digital Art Centre you can get it for free to enter the 19th Challenge of Embellishments which Nana Vic is hosting.

The challenge is to use the image and use at least two flowers for embellishments, yep OK I know I only have one flower, thats because I didnt read things properly lol but I am going to use my border as my excuse cos thats got flowers lol. In fact I didnt do too well at all this time When Vickie asked me to make a card ready for the challenge I took it to mean that the challenge started on the 19th, but no dopey me it was the 19th challenge which has been running since the 10th lol, better never mind you still have time to enter as it runs until the 23rd.

Nana Vic DT

You could be forgiven for not realising that this gorgeous little piggy is a digi image from Nana Vic, he is a little bit different from what we would expect but hey Nana's have to send baby cards too. This little piggy doesnt have to cry all the way home cos he's not on his own Nana Vic has a whole little collection of baby animals and some real sweet word art to go with them, so if your in need of baby card images then head on over there.

I kept this card real simple and neutral for either a boy or girl, the image and text I coloured with copics and then triple embossed, the gingham ribbon I have had for ages and forgot about in the bottom of the box so when I saw it today I just had to use it. The corners are made with a Nellie die that I got yesterday too.

Creative Card Crew No Flowers

shading on Tilda and new goodies

Zoe-licious of the Make It Colourful challenge did a tutorial for shading Edwins Trousers which I followed to colour Tilda's jumpsuit, this is about the fifth attempt and I really pleased with how she turned out.  My order arrived from the Craft Barn yesterday so as you can see I had a few new goodies to play with.

The dies are all Marianne D and I am loving them I threaded two lengths of contrasting ribbon through the border punch and I sat Tilda on a wall of Swarovski crystals. the flower is from Wild Orchid Crafts and I sprayed it with glimmer mists.

Challenges
FabnFunky Girly
Simon Says Anything
 Goes
Stampin for the WeekendSpringtime

Kiddies Challenge at Make It Colourful,

Wow have we got something special this week! This week the team at  Make It Colourful are having a week off and leaving it all to the kiddies and wow have they done some AWESOME colouring.

The challenge for the Kiddies is to colour something PINK my little grandson is only 8 weeks old so I guess this was a bit beyond him even though he is super cute so I pinched Barbara's kids, ok no Barbara didnt really let me pinch her kids but she did let me show off the fantastic colouring that they did - Im gonna have to be careful cos I reckon they will soon be after my spot lol.

This first card was done by Cassandra who is aged 7 she has used the kitchen scene from Make It Crafty

and this fantastic creation was done by Lydia and yep she is only 4 dont you just love that pink frog, it looks like Lydia really had great fun with Mums punches too.

Why dont you get your kids to join in the fun this week as I know that there is going to be a special prize just for the kids from Zoe this week.

Spring is in the Air

YIPPEEEEE the new printer has finally arrived, just got to get  the drivers downloaded and then I will be back in action, it did nt arrive in time for me to join in with the rest of the fab DT for this weeks challenge of 'Make It Shine' at  Make It Colourful, but thats no reason why you shouldn't give it a go oh and by the way we have another fantastic new sponsor this week Elaine of Quixotic Paperie who is offering £10 to spend in store to the winner.

The good thing about not having my printer though was that I was forced to get out my stamps, this little cutie is Blue Fairy from Sweet Pea Stamps.

she was stamped onto copic paper which I stuck to cardboard and used a Marianne D die cut for the shape. I masked the fairy and used my copic air brush to give a pale green background for the image, and then used some really bright warm colours to depict spring. the papers are My Minds Eye.
The little butterfly was originaly white so I coloured that in matching copics and the flowers I coloured with Glimmer Mist (I had to paint it on as the spray bottle won't work dont you just hate that!).

Challenges

In a Sweet Pea Dream Warmer Weather
Simon Says No Cook Recipe
Cute Card Thursday Signs of Spring
Fab n Funky Spring
Stampin Fpr the Weekend Spring
Delightful Sketches Welcome Spring

Art Deco

 I made this card for a colleague and good friend of mine, who has taken voluntary redundancy from our department. Carol just loves all things Art Deco and Bling, so I'm pretty sure that she will like this card. Because lots of people want to sign it I made it as an A4 card which was a challenge in itself, 6 x6 is soo much easier.
The image is from Lilac Lemon designs which is one of a set that I have had for ages and never got round to inking, I coloured the image with my favourite copic colours.
The swirls are also from a set that I have had forever but I cant remember where from. The swirls were embossed in silver for added bling.
The die cut swirls were cut with my Robo craft.
Plenty of swarovski gems were added and silver mirri card for backing and ribbon coloured with matching green copics to join the card.

I added fluffy stuff and diamond glitter for the stole, the piccies dont show just how much this card sparkles though.

Challenges
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes with Something old as an optional extra.
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge Frame
Cupcake Craft Anything but Square